Agricultural combines sever crop material from the ground. They carry the cut crop material into threshing, separating, and cleaning devices. After cleaning, agricultural combines convey the grain that remains upward into a grain tank, where the grain is deposited and awaits transfer to a secondary vehicle such as a grain cart or truck.
In order to provide access to conveying components for cleaning and repair, many of the components are arranged to be easily engaged and disengaged. To provide this easy engagement and disengagement, the conveyors are often coupled to the conveyor drives with toothed gears, cogs, and the like.
Couplers such as these provide for easy engagement and disengagement. The conveyors are often supported on pivots or swivels that permit the conveyor and the conveyor drive to be pivoted apart and then pivoted back together. One problem with these arrangements is fouling by crop matter. When the conveyors are pivoted away from their conveyor drives, crop material, such as grain, can fill the gap between the two and become interposed between the mating drive elements.
It can be time-consuming to scoop all the crop material away from the two elements of the coupler that couple the conveyor drive to the conveyor so they can be pivoted back together into driving engagement.
What is needed is a conveyor that can tolerate being fouled with grain. What is also needed is a conveyor arrangement that automatically clears itself of any fouling.
It is an object of this invention to provide such a conveyor for an agricultural combine.